Further Information

3M Philippines Establishment of Proper Sterilization

Over a hundred doctors, nurses, medical technologists, hospital supervisors
and hospital regulatory officers from different public and private hospitals
in NCR and Central Luzon underwent a one-week seminar on quality disinfection
and sterilization standards in local hospitals at the National Kidney and
Transplant Institute this June. Initiated by the Standards Development Division of
the Department of Health, in partnership with 3M Philippines, the seminar aimed to
call attention to the urgent need for improved hospital sterilization standards to
lower the incidence of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) in third world countries
like the Philippines. Dr. Normal Lu, regional clinical consultant from 3M Asia Pacific,
Infection Prevention division, stressed to medical practitioners at the workshop that
“infectious diseases are the highest cause of death in human history.” According to
the World Health Organization (WHO), hundreds of millions of patients around the world
are affected by healthcare-associated infections, which greatly affect patients’ medical
conditions. In the Philippines, over 500,000 patients contract HAIs annually and about
10 percent die due to these infections. HAIs can lead to “prolonged hospital stays,
unnecessary long-term disabilities, risk of higher resistance to life-saving medications,
additional cost for the patient and family, and even death.”